Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Catch-all

I'm finally getting around to reading through some recent previews. This is from NintendoLife:

Taken all together, these battles reminded us a bit of playing a fighting game in slow-motion. It features friendlier inputs, to be sure — floating diagrams on the HUD clearly show which moves and Blades are mapped to each button at all times — but the rhythm, combos, move buffering and situational decision making were all satisfying in a similar way. It’s also similarly unfriendly for button-mashers; when we started to zone out while listening to an explanation of the game’s lore mid-battle, we Game Over’d spectacularly and had to restart from a save point.

If we’re honest (and we always are!), as exciting and intricate as the combat system in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was, it was also seriously overwhelming. Even by the end of our roughly half-hour hands-on, our grip on the systems and subsystems intertwining to make up the on-screen melees felt tenuous — a feeling driven home when our Nintendo rep asked if we wanted to see him demonstrate a combo we’d failed to pull off several times, and then made it look so easy; there was an entire mechanic (elemental combo trees) that still hadn’t clicked for us. We were told that the demo portion we were playing took place 15 hours into the game, however, and that each individual feature would have been eased into the player’s repertoire one at a time; in other words, it shouldn’t be an issue when playing from the start. And it’s worth reiterating that even without a full grasp of exactly what we were doing, combat never ceased to be fun; we kept wanting to battle more to get better, and that’s a very good sign.

Chaz wrote:

I'm hoping that they account for that in the new game, since that was one of the major complaints against XCX, but I'm not laying my money out until I hear for sure that it's fixed.

The UI elements in the HUD on XC2 were very easy to read in the most recent Nintendo Direct. It's almost like they're treating the handheld screen as a first-class citizen this time around!

Here's a recent XC2 screenshot:

IMAGE(http://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/xenoblade-battle.jpg)

Here's XCX:

IMAGE(http://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/xenoblade-5-1.jpg)

As best I can tell, XC2 is using a larger font and they're putting background colors on the UI elements which makes the text stand out a lot more.

That does look better.

Man, I want to want this, but I've just had no luck with the earlier games. The first one didn't get played because it was on a TV-only console, and I never found the time. The second one didn't get played because their UI was unusable on both screens I had available, and I didn't have time. The third one can be played totally off-TV, so I should have the time, and the UI looks usable. I just feel like if I buy it, fate's going to smack me again, and it'll have something wonky like an atrocious translation/voice acting, or have a terrible story or super problematic treatment of women or something.

Apparently the bond between a Blade and its Driver changes depending on the strength of the bond.

IMAGE(http://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Xenoblade-Chronicles-2-01.jpg)

IMAGE(http://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Xenoblade-Chronicles-2-02.jpg)

Nintendo Japan previewed a rare Blade named Hotaru on Twitter: https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/stat...

Here's Vasara: https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/stat...

There are other screenshots out there of other Blades, but I like these little clips showing them in action as they have now personality.

Have they talked about how you get the rare Blades? I’m just nervous there’s a secret gashapon mechanic or something

Afaik you gather crystals which then can be used to awaken new Blades. And, yes, the effect is random. Not sure how gacha-esque it is though.

I can't imagine there are that many Blades in the game, though it might be more of a strength and affinity thing, which means it's probably very gacha to get the uber stat Blade versions. Dunno though, mostly spitballing.

Two more rare Blades revealed on Japanese Twitter. I'll link to the Nintendo Everything article since they collect everything for you.

Or, apparently, someone uploaded them to YouTube:

Edit: And here's your gacha:

Gonna be honest, this whole Blades thing is actually turning me off on the game. I bought two Xeno games I never beat (but I resumed the first one on 3DS this morning at least!), should I really buy a third that is the least enticing of them all?

Not sure what about them is turning you in particular. The games already had a certain amount of customizing of weapons and outfits. The games have always had loot drop tables. With the little info we have so far the Blades don't seem to be wholly out of character.

Also, not finishing the games is pretty normal since they're so damn long.

Honestly, I dunno what it is about the nature of the blades. I guess it's just the meta-game that Blades represent more than their mechanics in-game. Yes, Xenoblade the first (never got far enough in X to say much of those mechanics) has some customization options and other MMO-ness, but it feels minor compared to the combat itself.

Maybe I just gotta watch more videos or try it in action myself.

garion333 wrote:

Afaik you gather crystals which then can be used to awaken new Blades. And, yes, the effect is random. Not sure how gacha-esque it is though.

I can't imagine there are that many Blades in the game, though it might be more of a strength and affinity thing, which means it's probably very gacha to get the uber stat Blade versions. Dunno though, mostly spitballing.

Yeah, it's a little gacha-esque but not offensively so. Like no worse than a digital Japanese CCG style game or a Diablo-style loot drop thing.

Really not sure why gashapon was the first thing that lept into my mind when I saw reports about "rare" blades. Maybe because I had kinda assumed Blades would be doled out as quest rewards and plot beats similar to summons in Final Fantasy?

I'm sure some will be since they're a part of the story. Pyra certainly is.

Nintendo Treehouse blog has some written info on the combat system. They describe it as an onion, with six layers to it.

A spoilerific pic of the Titans and their currently known names:

Spoiler:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/5MwZBdF.jpg)

Fwiw, the pic came from one of the streams and a Gaf user added the names.

Thought this was a cool screengrab:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DL6k0dGVwAAd9bd.jpg)

Gif dump!

Rare Blade that is from the Baten Kaitos art person:

Spoiler:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/MLGIMNA.gif)

...Yeah ... You can really tell they've gone far and wide to find different artists to design the Blades and I think that's awesome, even if I don't like the facial design here. Dat nose...

Moving on.

Another rare Blade:

Spoiler:

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/3ohhwnU4Z8n5p4Ed4Q/giphy.gif)

Battle scenes:

Spoiler:

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/xUNd9ZrgsDzQhF9P2g/giphy.gif)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/oEFQxHL.gif)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/NPetEBp.gif)

Pretty environment:

Spoiler:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/9kyrzbf.gif)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/XeTOYDa.gif)

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Exploring the Town of Grendle Gameplay (Nintendo Switch)

*This video has dispelled my worry about the game not feeling ... big .. like the first game did. You know what I mean, not just a large map but large buildings, large towns, etc.

More Blades:

(This last one is THE BEST. So anime.)

And another:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/HDs70Hr.gif)

BNice wrote:

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/926433801554841602

Join us on Monday, Nov. 7, for a Nintendo Direct presentation dedicated to #XenobladeChronicles2 for #NintendoSwitch. Begins 6AM PT!

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNtaoSEUQAE7V3r.jpg)

Also feast your eyes on this:

IMAGE(https://giant.gfycat.com/BountifulQuaintGuanaco.gif)

That's one ... interesting Blade.

Whelp, looks like they've changed direction and:

Dual Audio at Launch as free DLC

Wow, they heard people. Awesome!

Also will have a season pass for other DLC. Boo.

Including new story content Autumn of 2018.

Also: Breath of the Wild will be getting a new quest to obtain Rex's armor on Thursday.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/uM4fGRe.jpg)
This seems similar to how they've done BotW DLC. Spread stuff out and give the team time to work on the new story DLC content, which then comes at the end of the year.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/T0YeLJz.jpg)

I am bummed that my Special Edition doesn't come with the DLC though.

I'm also a tad bummed it appears that there isn't going to be costume customization. Guess they streamlined that.

Japanese Direct was longer and went a little more indepth on the accesory and skill customization, not that I can understand anything they're saying:

Spoiler:

So I just gave the Direct another watch now that I could focus on it.

.......dammit, I kind of want it now. It clarified the combat somewhat, though like Xenoblade Chronicles original I imagine it'll be a bit of a mess until you get into the game and play it yourself. The real problem is I can already tell this one is going to demand a lot of time and I just don't know if I got it in me, especially with my inability to just finish the first one even on 3DS (then again, this is the second or third time I've played up to my current place so maybe once I finish my second Samus Returns run I can give it another try).

I'll wait and see how November goes. Gonna start Horizon and Clock is sending me Mario + Rabbids so...

Game Informer has a feature on the game plus interview snippets with the devs.

We all knew this was the case since it's a Takahashi game, but it's reassuring to hear:

"We [wanted] to make it into kind of a young man's adventure," Takahashi says. "It's kind of lighthearted – there's a lot of discoveries to be made, so we made it almost like an anime you would watch. But you know the kind of person that I am; the story does get a little bit heavier, a little bit darker. If you expect the same kind of evolution from the story that you would expect from a Xenoblade game, you're probably on the right track."

Huzzah!

Religious corruption and confusing Christ allegories confirmed!

Xenoblade 2 in a nutshell: Hey nerds, do you like systems? We have all the systems. Systems systems systems.

Also, questionable character designs and gashapon-lite mechanics because Japanese video games in 2017.

This is still a day 1 perch for me. I will finish one of these games I swear.

Amazingly it has less systems than XCX.

I'm all in on this with a Special Edition. Can't wait!

Now if I could find the time in my life to play the game that would be great. I'm still something like 20 hours into Zelda...

garion333 wrote:

Now if I could find the time in my life to play the game that would be great. I'm still something like 20 hours into Zelda...

Just learn to embrace the slow I'm still picking away at Samus Returns a month after everyone else seems to have finished it...